Researchers combine blood and genetic clues to study when symptoms begin

A Columbia University team investigated whether combining a blood measurement of p-tau217 with testing for APOE gene variants improves estimates of when Alzheimer’s-related cognitive symptoms emerge.

Reported by Columbia on September 9 and published in The Lancet Neurology, the analysis involved approximately 8,500 participants from different ethnic backgrounds. Combining the tests improved predictions over the blood measurement alone.

Among people with elevated p-tau217, symptoms were expected sooner in carriers of the higher-risk APOE4 variant. These population-level findings do not give individuals a fixed timetable.

Research leader Richard Mayeux said the approach could help determine when future preventive treatments should be studied or given. He did not recommend that people without symptoms seek these tests now. Columbia noted that such individuals were not eligible for the approved Alzheimer’s antibody treatments discussed in its report. The immediate value is therefore in research and the design of future studies.

Sources:

• Columbia University Irving Medical Center: Blood and gene test combination